Big Brother Lose Stock In Fire Caused By Rioting In London

A warehouse holding large amounts of stock for the UK's leading independent record labels was destroyed as rioting spread across London last night (August 8).

PIAS distribution, which handles releases from Big Brother, XL Recordings, Beggars, Domino, Wall Of Sound, Warp Defected and Sunday Best saw its warehouse in Enfield burnt down in scenes of unrest that spread across the city, as well as other parts of the UK.

The three-storey building was also home to Sony's distribution base in the UK.

Spencer Hickman, of Rough Trade record shops, wrote this morning via Twitter: "PIAS distribution got burnt to the ground last night, they look after XL Group, Domino, at least most of the big indies."

Rob Da Bank also took to his Twitter feed to confirm: "So looks like all our Sunday Best stock went up in flames last night in the PIAS blaze."

Although the full extent of the damage is so far unclear, there are already fears about the impact the loss of so much stock at once will have on the already-strained independent music sector.

Last night saw the third consecutive day of rioting, after a peaceful protest in Tottenham on Saturday (August 6) over the death of Mark Duggan during a police operation, turned violent. By last night, rioting and looting had spread to Hackey, Camden, Ealing, Clapham, and also spreading out into Birmingham.

Source: www.nme.com